Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Immigrant groups demand rights as residents, not just workers ahead of local polls
Udaya Rai, head of the Migrants’ Trade Union, speaks during a press conference in central Seoul, Wednesday. Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
‘Migrant workers must be part of our future,’ activists say
Migrant rights groups called on politicians to drastically expand social rights and protections for more than 2.8 million migrants living in Korea, accusing policymakers of treating them as workers but not as residents, neighbors or — where eligible — voters.
At a press conference in Seoul ahead of the June 3 local elections, representatives of the groups said everyone who lives and works in the country should be guaranteed equal access to welfare and public services, including health care and education, regardless of nationality. They claimed both central and local governments build their economies on migrant labor while systematically excluding migrants from tax-funded benefits.
They called on candidates to present concrete pledges to remove legal and institutional discrimination, strengthen local migrant support systems and embrace migrants — including undocumented workers and children — as members of society whose rights must be protected.
“This election will decide our region’s future — and migrant workers must be part of it,” said Udaya Rai, head of the Migrants’ Trade Union. “We strongly urge parties, candidates and local governments to choose politics of coexistence, mutual thriving and rights protection, instead of politics of discrimination, exclusion and hate.”
Rai described how foreign workers here are concentrated in some of the hardest and most dangerous jobs, from factories and construction sites to logistics hubs and farms, yet remain largely invisible when it comes to labor protections and public services.
Activists at the press conference said that, in practice, many migrants — even those living here legally — are still left outside the national health insurance system and called this one of the most urgent issues.
“Migrants who are excluded (particularly undocumented ones) are forced to pay health care bills upfront, find guarantors or go into debt. Some hospitals charge them ‘international’ rates originally designed for medical tourists, which can be three to ten times higher than standard insurance rates,” said Park Hee-eun, a health advocate.
Another speaker, Kang Da-young of Sharing for Hope, a Seoul-based nongovernmental organization, drew attention to children who were born and raised here but lack Korean nationality or legal status.
“Infants and young children with migrant backgrounds are often excluded from childcare fees, child-rearing allowances and early childhood education support, and as of August 2025, while nine provinces and 117 cities and counties offer some childcare subsidies for foreign children, the level of support differs by locality and undocumented children are largely left out,” she said.
Park Dong-chan, another rights advocate, criticized what he described as a recurring pattern of “hate politics” in which non-Koreans are cast as a problem or threat during election seasons. He pointed to constant attempts to frame voting rights for permanent residents who meet certain conditions as a national security risk, as well as recent debates over labeling online comments by nationality, arguing that such moves are designed to stir fear and resentment rather than address real policy challenges.
“Local elections should be a grassroots festival of democracy in which the true owners are residents who actually live in the community and pay taxes here, beyond the boundary of nationality,” he said.
In a joint statement, they called on parties and politicians to explicitly include migrant rights in their manifestos, guarantee that migrants are treated as rights-holding residents rather than just workers, present detailed plans to eliminate discrimination in all social services and ensure that every child is given protection or support regardless of nationality or legal status.